The stone fruit harvesting and handling campaign will begin in some regions of the Murcia Region in just 8 or 10 days, such as in the Vega Alta, where they are already preparing both for the harvest and for the implementation of the appropriate measures. safety and prevention to avoid contagion by coronavirus among workers. In fact, the preventive measures to be taken in the handling phase represent one of the challenges that agriculture will face in this campaign and that will mean an increase in handling costs, which in turn could have an impact on the final price of the products

The safety distance between employees around a conveyor belt must be greater. "Where before there were 10 people treating the fruit that is transported by the conveyor belts in the cooperatives, now they must be half and the conveyors go at a slower speed, and that will increase the working hours and consequently the handling costs," remarks Esperanza. Ramírez, vice president of Coag Cieza.

Another problem within the manipulation phase is that if a person has symptoms of coronavirus, all the partners of both the conveyor belt and its environment two meters away must be quarantined.

There is also a drawback in the transportation of the templates, since the cooperatives will have to invest in more bus trips to transport their workers, who must keep the safety distance inside the coaches. In cars the same, since only two are allowed for tourism and three in a van.